Coming Full Circle
by uniqueinkblots
Summary: Eddie flashed his girlfriend one of his most sincere, cheerful grins. "You're going to be hard to replace, Williamson." With graduation looming over the horizon, Eddie and Patricia know it's time to break up. He's going to America for college and long distance never works. The split is amicable, but it's still hard. After all, they still love each other. Peddie Oneshot.


**A/N:**

Is it just me or is the HoA fandom slowly dying down? It might just be me. I'm kind of disappointed that HoA so far hasn't been renewed for a fourth season (I don't think it will be but who knows) so I figured I might as well as write some more Peddie oneshots before things slow down for good.

I guess this oneshot starts off kind of bittersweet although I was aiming for more sweet than bitter. It was inspired by the fact that it's graduation season and lots of seniors both high school and college have been moving up in the world these past couple of weeks. Congrads and happy reading!

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, Eddie and Patricia were a perfectly functional couple.

People thought they couldn't be serious or heartfelt but it wasn't true; they just didn't flaunt their relationship skills for the world to see. Fabian teased them and called them too casual and Jerome joked that their relationship didn't count because they were best friends. Truly though, they were the strongest couple within the whole Anubis House lot.

Which is why with the end of senior year coming to a close, Eddie and Patricia had actually _discussed _what would happen to them after graduation.

"We're going to graduate." Eddie broke the silence and slammed his textbook shut. "Where did the time go? We're going to _graduate."_

"You're optimistic," Patricia retorted, looking up from her notes. "We haven't passed our finals yet. Have you _seen _your dad's study guide? This is impossible! We might not."

Eddie nodded agreeably, grinning. "He's insane when it comes to exams," he conceded. "But who cares? Fail his final. We already got into college. We're basically free. We're all going to graduate. Even us."

"With friends like Fabian and Mara we were never actually in danger of not passing," Patricia admitted. "Not to mention we're not stupid. Just lazy. So yeah I guess you're right. We're graduating."

"And going to different colleges," Eddie hedged, hoping Patricia would allow them to have this conversation.

When it came to the serious talks, he was usually the one who had to get them started. It was a little unconventional, but it worked for them. She never refused to talk about the difficult things, she just wasn't brave enough to bring them up herself. So between Eddie's wacky conversation openers and Patricia's reluctant acceptance, the two of them always ended up having the heart-to-hearts they needed to.

"Oh god," she groaned, covering her face with a piece of looseleaf paper. "We're having _that _talk aren't we?"

"Yup," Eddie announced. "It's now or never, Williamson. Let's do this."

Patricia sighed and put her pen down. "Okay. Graduation. Two different colleges. I'm staying here. You're going back to America. So what happens to us?"

"So glad you asked!" Eddie teased. He was being valiant, making light of the situation, but the tension in the room was evident. "In my great and epic experience of relationships..."

"Oh, please," Patricia interrupted with a snort.

"Okay, fine. You're my first serious girlfriend but it doesn't take a genius to know that long distance relationships don't work. It fails for people in the same country, so I think it's pretty safe to say it's going to fail with you and me being separated by multiple oceans."

"Multiple oceans? Really?"

Eddie shrugged miserably. "I copied Fabian's geography notes so I'm not actually sure if it's _multiple_," he admitted. "Besides the point though. I think when I go to America, we should..."

"Break up," Patricia finished. "We should break up."

"But not now!" Eddie clarified. "We don't have to be that lame couple that cries over college and begs the other to stay and part forever mad at each other. We can just split at the end of the school year, wish each other the best, and yeah...move on with our lives."

Patricia cringed. "I don't know. I think it's weird that we're able to talk about this so calmly. That's not normal, right?"

"It's because we're awesome," Eddie said dismissively. "So what do you think?"

"I don't know, Eddie," she said again. "I agree with the...breaking up. It makes sense. But you're going to America, not the planet Mars. We've still got technology. We could still...you know..."

"Email? Talk on the phone every once in a while? Facebook?"

"Yeah. We live in the age of technology. We could...you know...be friends?"

"Fine," Eddie agreed with a warm smile, chasing away Patricia's hesitations. "We'll be friends."

"But it won't be a relationship anymore!" Patricia warned. "You'll get busy, I'll get busy, life's going to go on. We won't get mad at each other when we miss calls and take time to answer messages, we'll be cool about it. No pressure. We'll be friends."

"Of course," Eddie said enthusiastically. "None of that drama. Friends..." he mused. "Yeah, I like that. I think we're going to be fine."

"But don't break up with me until after graduation day," Patricia said with a grin. "I want someone to kiss after we get our diplomas."

"Deal."

Eddie leaned over and kissed her softly before returning to his father's evil study guide.

He silently pondered their conversation. It had been easy, effortless even. He knew it should have been more complicated and maybe with more tears but the both of them had grown a lot over the years. Between the two of them, they had cried, shouted, fought, gotten jealous, pined for each other, etc. After having experienced all of those crazy emotions for sometimes the silliest of reasons, it didn't seem worth it to kick up a big fuss.

They had mutually decided to move on from each other romantically, but stay friends. It would be a bit of a challenge but...it could be done.

"I feel kind of sad." Patricia was the one to break their studying streak this time. "I know we talked about it like mature adults, which was boring by the way, but I can't help but feel kind of down. I really like you."

Eddie sighed, flinging his pen to the side. "I really like you too."

"I think we need cheering up," Patricia decided. "Video games?"

Eddie flashed his girlfriend one of his most sincere, cheerful grins. "You're going to be hard to replace, Williamson."

Patricia flung her arms around his shoulders in a sideways hug before reaching for the game controller. "Yeah, you too."

* * *

"Dude, are you crying?"

Fabian sniffed. "No, I...um. Any point in using the allergies excuse?"

"No point at all," Eddie replied. "Come here, man." He pulled his best friend into a friendly hug which to his surprise made Fabian cry harder. "Fabian! Dude!"

"I can't help it!" he protested, dabbing at his red eyes. "If _you're _hugging me then today is definitely one of those life-changing, emotional days."

"As if you didn't know that before," Eddie slapped his friend on the back. "Come on, valedictorian. Your speech is happening soon. Pull yourself together."

"Right. Of course."

Fabian wiped his eyes and Eddie chuckled. Typical. He should have guessed that his roommate would turn on the waterworks _before _the actual ceremony.

"I'm pretty sure the only reason half of us are standing here in our caps and gowns is because your dad curved his final," Patricia said, tapping her boyfriend on the shoulder.

"You're definitely right," Eddie said. He took a deep breath. "Ready for this?"

"Hear a bunch of boring speeches and then walk across a stage wearing this ridiculous maroon thing? I was _born _ready."

Patricia squeezed his hand in smiled. "We've gotta line up in alphabetical order. See you on the other side."

"Dramatic as always!" Eddie called after.

"You love it!" came the response.

"I love _you," _Eddie whispered after her.

It was nothing he hadn't said before, but saying it the evening they planned on breaking up was kind of hard.

* * *

In the end, the graduation ceremony was full of cliches. Nothing was unexpected.

Mr. Sweet was motivational, Fabian rocked his speech, and Victor mumbled "good riddance" into the microphone on "accident"_. _Alfie tripped and almost fell while collecting his diploma, Jerome made a goofy face in his professional graduation photo, and Mara sulked about being salutatorian. (She very vocally blamed Mr. Sweet's impossible final for her her number two rank.)

Once each row had been called and everyone had walked across the stage, Mr. Sweet ended with one last congratulatory speech, and dismissed the auditorium. It was chaos trying to get out.

All of the teachers were flanked on either side at the back of the auditorium, ready to shake their students' hands and congratulate them. The large room was a sea of maroon, golden crested gowns, trying to exit and find their friends and family.

It wasn't until after witnessing a painfully awkward exchange between his mom and dad that Eddie was finally able to escape.

"Hey, congratulations!" He tackled Patricia from the behind, catching her unawares. "We did it."

"Was there ever any doubt?" She smirked and turned into his embrace. "Going to kill my mood and break up with me?"

"Not yet," Eddie winked before leaning down and pulling her in for a searing kiss.

"My family is waiting. I have to go for dinner with them."

"Yeah same here."

Patricia winced, patting his cheek. "Poor you."

"Mm. On a scale of 1-10, how awkward do you think it will be? Dinner with my divorced parents?"

"An 11," she replied helpfully, laughing as he groaned. "I know we already moved out but let's meet in front of Anubis House tomorrow morning? Breakfast?"

"Breakup breakfast," Eddie said. "Sounds fantastic."

Patricia sighed. "God, we are _way _too casual about this."

Eddie shrugged sadly and pecked Patricia's cheek. "See you in the morning."

* * *

She ended up crying into her coffee and he lost his appetite all together.

They had been brave about the whole thing - mature and openminded from the start. But the fact was, this was _depressing._

All of their friends had voted them as cutest couple despite knowing about their plans to breakup.

_"Cutest couple?" Eddie threw down the yearbook, horrified. "You voted us for cutest couple after knowing we were planning on breaking up? You guys!"_

_"So you're saying you and Patricia aren't the cutest?" Mara asked._

_"Of course we are!" Eddie and Patricia said in unison._

_"Being on the same wavelength to the point where you can say the same thing at the same time," Willow commented. "Quite impressive. Spiritual, even. It's why I voted for you!"_

_"Willow," Patricia groaned. "We're breaking up right after graduation. What part about that is cute?"_

_"What you're doing is so romantic," Joy cut in. "Splitting up as friends. That just means you'll end up together in the future! That's how it works out in all the movies."_

_Eddie rolled his eyes. "This isn't a movie."_

_"You two pretend that you're not cliched and romantic but you soo are," Joy said. "Just accept it."_

_"Whatever," Patricia laughed._

It was sad. They had started off as adversaries. (Eddie still wasn't sure why that happened. Had Patricia not been so mean to him in the beginning they could have gotten together _a lot _sooner.) But soon they had become friends...of a kind. And before long, they had been in a relationship. Sure they had broken up once in the middle (due to epic misunderstandings) but for the most part they had been together for three years.

Three wonderful, hilarious, unforgettable, heartwarming years.

Eddie couldn't imagine finding another girl like Patricia. One that was fiery, but still sensitive. One that was sassy, but still kind.

Patricia was pretty sure she wasn't going to find another boy like Eddie. Someone who saw through her nonsense and stuck around.

But they were people of logic, and neither of them _wanted _long distance. They didn't want to try something doomed to fail.

"I have to leave for the airport," Eddie finally mumbled.

"I'll walk you to the car."

One passionate kiss and one long embrace later and Eddie was on his way to the airport.

They could have talked about it more, been more emotional about it, but what was the point in prolonging the inevitable?

Eddie had to leave, and Patricia let him go.

It was for the best.

* * *

**FOUR YEARS LATER:**

"Eddie?" Patricia held her cellphone to her ear. "What have I told you about calling me? International rates! Just tell me to get on Skype or something."

Throughout their undergraduate career, they had managed to stick to their word. There had been months were Eddie had been caught up with his own life didn't mail back as quickly, and there had been times where Patricia didn't have the time to video chat. They had drifted apart, certainly, but they had never completely lost sight of one another.

The friendship was too important.

And when both of them ended up getting iPhones and could text for free...well let's just say, some of their relationships with other people probably didn't work out because of their respective lovers being jealous of their friendship. It was easy to feel insecure.

"This was faster," Eddie said, grinning into his phone. "And don't be so mean! What if I want to cry my heart out to you about my latest disaster of a relationship?"

"Is that really why you called?" Patricia asked, sounding concerned.

It had been difficult hearing about each other going out with other people and at first they hadn't talked about it. But it was even weirder seeing pictures on facebook and wondering what the real deal was so before long, the pair found themselves confiding in each other. It was kind of odd to discuss girls with your ex-girlfriend and to discuss boys with your ex-boyfriend but somehow, they made things work.

After a while, it wasn't awkward.

"No," Eddie admitted. "Although I _was _sort of dumped last week. We had only gone on three dates so we were never actually boyfriend and girlfriend but apparently she was under the impression we were in a relationship but next thing I know she's "breaking up with me" because we're just not "compatible". Which translates to: she doesn't like Harry Potter and I'm not interested in walking her five dogs."

Patricia snorted. "I didn't like Harry Potter."

"Well you were the exception, weren't you?" he said lightly, before changing the subject. "Hey so, keep your calendar free for next week?"

"Why?" Patricia demanded in anticipation. "Oh my god, are you _visiting_ me?"

Even though they had managed to keep in touch, Patricia had still never been to America, and Eddie's visits to his Dad had never coincided with Patricia being around.

"Self-obsessed, aren't we?" Eddie took a a swig from his water bottle before continuing. "I'm surprising my Dad for his birthday. I'm done with school so I'll be spending the summer with him before I head back to the states and start the job I have lined up. If you're free, want to meet up? Catch up in person?"

"Yes, I'd love to," Patricia said.

"Great. Tell your boyfriend to back off for the week, okay?"

"I'm single," Patricia told him. "Oh and congrats on graduating, by the way." She was referring to his _college _graduation.

Time flew.

"Thanks," Eddie said warmly. "You too, by the way. The circumstances of the last time we graduated were different, huh?"

"Sure," Patricia replied. "We were 18 and now we're 22."

"You know what I mean."

Patricia laughed. "Whatever. You're wasting our money! I'll see you next week."

"I'll email you the flight details," Eddie said.

"I'm picking you up from the airport?" Patricia asked. "How presumptuous of you."

Eddie chuckled. "Dad's semester isn't quite done yet, he won't be free. Please pick me up?"

"Of course."

* * *

When Eddie strolled out of the airport gate, Patricia was prepared.

She waved her hand at him and met him halfway, pulling him into a giant hug and standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

"I missed you," she breathed.

Eddie was kind of surprised. In the past, Patricia had always been so tentative when it came to anything physical. She had been shy about everything in the beginning - the hugs, the kissing, _everything. _She tended to over think things.

So he had really expected her to fall into her old habit of over thinking the situation and being bashful when it came to physical contact.

It was as though Patricia could read Eddie's mind.

"I grew up," she explained. "It's just a hug, right?"

"Just a hug," Eddie confirmed, returning the embrace and following her to her car. "I missed you too."

"So you're spending the summer with your dad?" Patricia prompted.

"Helping him run a summer program. Me being in a school longer than I need to be? Unexpected, huh?" Eddie joked.

"Really unexpected," Patricia agreed, giggling. "So um...what would you say if I told you I was spending the summer there too? I've got a summer job handing one of the summer programs too."

"What a coincidence," Eddie murmured in response.

"It's not a coincidence," Patricia admitted, swallowing hard. "What would you say if I applied for that job _knowing _that you'd be applying for another one just like it? What would you say if I told you I did it so that we could spend time together?"

Eddie could feel a smile threatening to split his face in half. Still, he managed to keep his cool.

"I'd say that makes you an incredibly dedicated friend," he said.

_Friend._

Patricia kind of wanted to be more and she ended up saying as much. She had grown up; she didn't mind starting the more difficult conversations now.

"And what if...I want to be more than friends?"

"Ooh," Eddie said in a friendly, mocking tone. "That ship has sailed, don't you think? Better we stay friends, I think."

Once upon a time, such a comment would have torn Patricia up and hurt her feelings even if it _was _a joke. But she wasn't that insecure anymore. She _knew _he felt the same.

"Eddie!" she exclaimed, pulling into the parking lot of the school grounds before elbowing him in the ribs. I'm serious!"

"If you want to be more than friends, than let's be more than friends," Eddie said, like it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Really?" Patricia asked. "We have got to be the two most unromantic people in the world. Casual breakup, casual getting together. Who does that?"

"We do," Eddie replied. "It's just simpler this way."

"So..."

"So all of our high school friends were _right," _Eddie said, leaning in and kissing her deeply.

The angle was awkward. They were still in her car and Patricia still had her seatbelt on and Eddie had to twist in a funky way to even _reach _her lips but somehow, it was still perfect.

"We used to be better at this," Eddie observed.

"We can practice," Patricia offered.

"I love you," he mumbled against her lips, _so _happy.

He had wanted this so badly, but he hadn't dared to hope for it.

"Love you too," she said back.

He finally leaned back and looked at her innocently. "So if I said I never stopped loving you, would you - "

"I would beat you up for sounding so sappy," Patricia batted her eyelashes at him before tangling her hand with his. "I really _really _missed you. I know we kept in touch but it wasn't the same. I got over you, I did. I saw other boys, you saw other girls, but it was never as good."

"You got pretty good at eloquently sharing your feelings," Eddie praised. "Once upon a time I would have to pry such a confession out of you."

"Shut up," Patricia said. "...and welcome home."

Eddie answered by pressing her lips to her once more.

"Practice starts now," he murmured. "I'm home."

* * *

**A/N:**

It's a little dialogue heavy, but I had a lot of fun writing it. I hope you all had as much fun reading it and I'd love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
